G10: Red Sox 2, Rays 1 (10)

Rays    - 001 000 000 0 - 1  6  1
Red Sox - 000 010 000 1 - 2  7  0

Shane Victorino's infield single to shortstop scored Jacoby Ellsbury with the winning run.

Ellsbury had singled with one out, stolen second, and continued on to third when catcher Jose Lobaton's throw sailed into the outfield. Tampa Bay brought the left fielder in to make a five-man infield; they were all playing in on the lip of the grass, and shortstop Yunel Escobar, playing in front of second base, dove to his left to spear Victorino's hit. Escobar threw quickly to first, but Ryan Roberts was not on the bag. It didn't matter, because (a) there was only one out and (b) Ellsbury was busy sprinting across the plate.

David Ross's solo home run off Price (6-4-1-2-8, 106) accounted for Boston's other run.

Lester (7-5-1-1-5, 100) had an uncomfortable three innings before settling down. He had two 3-ball counts and one 2-ball count in the first inning, gave up two two-out singles in the second, and allowed a single and an RBI double to begin the third. Lester retired 14 of his last 15 batters, though. His ERA in three starts is 1.42.

Lester also moved into sixth on the Red Sox all-time strikeout list for pitchers. He is the only lefty in the top seven - and should crack the top five very soon:

1  Roger Clemens   2,590
2  Tim Wakefield   2,046
3  Pedro Martinez  1,683
4  Cy Young        1,341
5  Josh Beckett    1,108
6  Jon Lester      1,078
7  Luis Tiant      1,075

The bullpen was lights out, save for Joel Hanrahan. Manager John Farrell brought in Hanrahan to start the top of the ninth, after Andrew Bailey had worked a perfect eighth. Farrell had a short leash, however, and after Hanrahan walked both Evan Longoria (on four pitches) and Ben Zobrist (an eight-pitch battle), Farrell quickly pulled him in favour of Koji Uehara, who set down the next three batters. Junichi Tazawa allowed a leadoff double in the tenth, but got the next three Rays.

David Price / Jon Lester

Ellsbury, CF
Victorino, RF
Pedroia, 2B
Napoli, 1B
Middlebrooks, 3B
Nava, LF
Gomes, DH
Drew, SS
Ross, C

Game preview from WEEI.